Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[PupGeek]

Thanks keef I completely spaced that out.

Anyways, I edited it to include that.

[jpeps]

It can be helpful using something like "tree" to view what's present in the directory.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=47657

[rjbrewer]

This subject belongs in the "How to" or "Users" sections;
not Beginners!!

[r1tz]

[PupGeek]

I did not know you could leave the ls command out of the for loop and achieve the same result (I just checked that out and was surprised). Nice shortcut there, thanks.

With my Roxapp example, the script only deals with files that are essential to the program itself. Data files are handled from within the program. The script only sets up the program temporarily and cleans itself up when you are done using it.

As for quoted variables, they have always looked wrong to me... probably because of my earlier experiences, but it is nice to know that quoting a variable allows it to handle data containing spaces. I was wondering how to go about doing that. I don't like putting spaces in filenames and I know many coders don't either, but I guess I have to know how to deal with them if I'm going to code.

some of the biggest commands I have trouble with are grep, sed, and awk. I also have trouble with regular expressions (or at least, complex ones.... kinda like Algebra ). That's when it really starts to get confusing to me. I try to avoid those wherever I can.

@rj: I placed this in beginners because I wanted to let people know that, yes, even a beginner can learn to use the CLI. I'm sure there are beginners who are interested in this kind of stuff but may not be quite ready to leave the beginner's circle yet. This can ease them into a more advanced area.

[Karl Godt]

For files it is important to use double quotes

but try this
while true; do ps | grep X | grep -v 'grep'; S="/bin/sleep 0.2"; "$S" ;done
and this

[Bruce B]

Why use the command line.

In the beginning was the command line. I couldn't build or setup a
computer without using the command line. Today, maybe I could, but
I've not tried it.

The primary reason I use it so extensively today is because it is so much
faster and easier than the GUI in many cases.

In and of itself, I don't think the command line would be faster,
except for the aliases and scripts we make.

Additionally, when the computer doesn't work right, there often isn't a
GUI application to do the troubleshooting and repair. The power user
knows what command line tools are available and how to use them.

Presently, as I write this text, I'm converting .wav files to .mp3 files in
large batch. There is probably a GUI tool to do this. Even if there is, it
won't provide me with the level of control I can get with my own script.

I might have almost one terabyte of data on my computer. Because of
scripts I've written, I can find files much faster than the computer can
search itself with any GUI tool I know of.

~~

[Bruce B]

When you start writing your own scripts, you are literally programming.

There are some things you need to know about, things which may seem
odd.

I wish to introduce you to one.

A Shell is an interface to the operating system. We call Bash a shell. But
the GUI is also a shell.

When X is running we run Bash in an emulator. Rxvt, Urxvt, or others.

When we run a script it does NOT run in the same shell we started it in.
It runs in a child or secondary shell and when done with the commands,
returns us to the first shell.

Here is a very simple script that won't seem to work. Please try it.

Scriptname r

[Bruce B]

[Bruce B]

Below is a basic order of precedence in which bash finds commands

1st = alias
2nd = function
3rd = internal command
4th = external command

To see the aliases

# alias

To see the functions

# set (then look for the functions)

To see internal commands

# help

To see external commands

# tab (then answer) y

Knowing how bash finds the commands can be helpful if you want to use
a specific command with a redundant name. For example, maybe
pwd is an internal command and an external command.

The internal command will run unless you specify the external
command, which might be stated like as below in your script.

/usr/bin/pwd

If the command is not found in an alias, function, or internally; bash will
search the PATH for the command.

It will use the PATH statement from left to right.

To see the path statement

echo $PATH

~

[r1tz]

Another useful command is "mkdir -p"
mkdir= Make directory
-p = Make the parent file if it doesn't exist.

So, i want to make a directory /mnt/sda1/lupu52/backup/2010

[Bruce B]

[jamesbond]

[Bruce B]

[Bruce B]